If my back hurts why do I need to strengthen
my abdominal muscles?

I give advice every day to my patients on things that they can do to help strengthen their low back and reduce the pain down there.

Certainly there is a need for people to keep the muscles in the low back strong and flexible, but we often neglect to keep our abdominal muscles strong.

The abdominal muscles are generally comprised of two sets of muscles. The"six pack" muscles in the front of the abdominal area and the muscles that wrap around on each side of the abdomen toward the spine in the back. The muscles in the front tend to move the torso in a bending forward motion and the muscles on the sides help us with rotational movements of the torso.

If we keep those muscle groups strong they not only make those movements easier, but they also press in on the airtight abdominal cavity and support the structures in the spine. This in turn takes some of the load off the already over-loaded support structures in the spine, easing their work and helping to reduce the pain in the low back.

There are both short-term and long-term benefits to this. The short-term benefits are, of course, a reduction in the pain in the low back. The long-term benefits are a reduced strain on the structures of the low back which can then reduce the chances of serious injury such as disc herniation or degenerative arthritis.

So when your doctor tells you to do crunches or to use the abdominal strengthening machine at the gym to strengthen your abdominal muscles, he or she has a good understanding of how your back works. They really are trying to decrease the pain in your low back by making it stronger. They are not just trying to make you look better in that swimming suit that you will be wearing in Hawaii next month.

Dr. Peter Lorentzen, D.C.